Railway-car coupling



May 18, 1926 I 1,585,420

K. SCHARFENBERG RAILWAY CAR COUPLING ,Filed' Feb. 24, 1925 -2 Shuts-Sheet 1 v //v1//v tag/2} l KARL Z6HARFENEERG h mmmeys May 18, 1926. 1,585,420

' K. SCHARFENBERG RAILWAY CAR COUPLING Filed Feb. 24, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 his Ai-rwney:

MMMBVW Patented May 18, 1926.

L lith!) YATES KARL SCHARFENBERG', OF KONIG-SBERG, GERMANY.

BAILWAY-CAR COUPLING.

Application filed February 24-, 1925. Serial No. 11,236.

This invention relates to railway car but .li r complin s and more particularly'to the type in which each coupler is a counterpart of the other and has a link pivoted on a swinein hookplate, the link of one coupler being a ciapted to engage the hookplate of the other coupler. One object of my invention is to provide means for preventing the couplers att. chingthemselves together when it is red merely to shunt the cars without dc coupling them together.

1n the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional plan view of two couplers in normal operative position about to come in contact wlth each other;

Figure 2 is another plan view showing he couplers in the ready-for-coupling position;

Figure 3 shows the couplers fastened to gether, while,

Figure 4 shows the first phase of the un coupling,

Figure 5 the shunting position and Figure 6 shows the position of the coupling members for separating from the shunt inn; position.

llcretotore railway car couplings of this type would automatically couple up when pressed together, even if one coupler were in operative position and one were closed.

This is a disadvantage if it is desired to shunt the cars about without coupling them together, and it is one object of this invention to so modify the construction that the couplcrs can, if desired, be set in a position where they will come together without coupling up and can then be coupled up only by first sepa ratin g them Each coupler has a casing 9 adapted to act as a butter and containing the coupling elements. There is a hookplate pivoted on the casing with a tension spring 0 tending to hold it in the normal operative position shown in Figure 1.. The two hookplates are designated by the reference letters a and a respectively. In one edge of each hookplate is notch having a back lip b. Each spring a is fastened to the hookplate on the side where the notch is located. Pivoted to the opposite side of each hookplate is a link, the link on the hookplate a being designated by the reference letter J, and the link on hookplate a by the letter al The casing over the notch in each hook late is in the form of a tunnel f and f lea ing to the notch in the hoolzplate. The novel detail of construction lies in the size of the back lip b of the notch in each hookplate. Heretofore this back lip has been so large that when the notch has been turned forward, the link could not pass between the lip and the easing. in my improved construction this back lip is out sulliciently small to permit the link to pass between the casing and lip if the notch is turned forward by hand a little be yond the position to which it is forced by the coming together of the two couplers. ltwill be apparent that the end of link 0? cannot engage the notch, in the hookplate a as iong as the link o lies between the hook plate a and the casing 9, because only the forward convexity of the hookplate a is presented to the link (Z. By these means the couplers can be brought together to act as buffers while the cars are being shunted about, without their coupling up. This has hitherto leen impossible with this type of coupler.

To put the couplers into the normal operative position again, itis only necessary to separate them, when they will return to the position shown in Figure 1 under the influence of the springs 6.

hen the couplers are in normal operative position and are brought together, the ends of the links (Z and al will come in contact with the forward convexities of the hook plates a and a, and as the couplers are brought together, the links will therefore cause the hook plates to be turned against the tension of the springs e and 6 until the couplers assume the position shown in Fig. 2. The ends of the links 65 and d will then drop into the notches in the hookplates a and a, respectively, and the springs e and (2 will pull the hook plates back to the position shown in Fig. 1 leaving the couplers fastened together as shown in Fig. 3.

It it is desired to unfasten the couplers in order to shunt the cars about without their being coupled up, a handle 70 on the hook plate a or a handle 74 on the hook plate a is turned by hand: the handle A; being used in the example shown in the drawings. When its is desired to uncouple the couplings, the handle 70 is pushed back in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 4: until the hook plate a is turned to such an extent that its rear or back lip Z2 has not only turned the hook plate a until that plate has released the link d but until the end of the link a has been forced out of the notch and over the back lip b of the hook plate a. At this moment the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4 but instantly the spring 6 turns the hook plate a pushing the link 03 between the casing g and the hook plate a (see Fig. 5). The coupling elements will remain in these positions until the couplers are separated, the instant of separation when the couplers have been in the position shown in Fig. 5 being shown in Fig. 6. When the couplers are thus separated, the spring 6 will turn the hook plate a back into its original operative position as soon as the link (Z passes the back lip Once this has been accomplished the couplers are in position to automatically fasten together as soon as the couplers are again brought together.

I claim:

1. A car coupler having a casing, a hookplate pivoted in said casing, in combination with a link pivoted on said hookplate and adapted to engage the hookplate of a counter coupler, and a spring tending to keep said hookplate in operative position, the hook on the hookplate being shaped to permit the link of the counter coupler to pass between it and the casing when the hookplate is turned forward beyond the ready-foncoupling position and the coupler brought into plate and adapted to engage the notch in the hookplate of a counter coupler, and a spring tending to keep said hookplate in operative position; the back lip of the notch in the hookplate being out small enough to permit the link of the counter coupler to pass between it and the casing and prevent c'z'igagement between the link of the coupler and the notch of the hookplate of the countor coupler, when said hookplate is turned forward beyond the ready-tor-coupling P0521 Lion, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have name to this specification.

'KARL SCI'LXRFENBERG.

signed in 

